Kerry won't run for president in '08

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | January 24, 2007

WASHINGTON --An emotional Senator John F. Kerry today said he will not run in
the 2008 presidential race and vowed to use his Senate perch to hasten an
end to the war in Iraq, saying he would work with lawmakers from both
parties to reverse President Bush's troop "surge" and force him to
withdraw virtually all troops from Iraq by early next year.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, used the unusual forum of the Senate
floor to announce his political ambitions. Choking up as he harkened back
to his service in Vietnam, Kerry said he would work to make sure the next
president doesn't have to cope with the consequences of a "wider war"
sparked by the failed policy in Iraq.

"Two years ago I sought the presidency to lead us on a different
course. I'm proud of the campaign that we ran," Kerry said.

"We came close, Mr. President, certainly close enough to be tempted
to try again," he continued. "There are powerful reasons to want to
continue that fight now. But I've concluded that this isn't the time for me
to mount a presidential campaign. It is the time to put my energy to work
as part of the majority in the Senate, to do all I can to end this war and
strengthen our security.

"The people of Massachusetts have given me an incredible privilege
to serve, and I intend to work here to change a policy in Iraq that
threatens all that I have cared about and fought for since I came home from
Vietnam," he said.

Kerry's decision to stay out of the presidential race reflects a
realization that he would have had an uphill climb in capturing the
Democratic nomination, given the other party heavyweights who are already
in the race, according to Kerry associates.

Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, has been acting like a
2008 candidate virtually since he lost to President Bush -- traveling the
country, spreading money to other Democratic candidates, and keeping in
place a campaign infrastructure that was ready for another presidential
bid.

But according to Kerry associates, the senator's plans changed
dramatically in the fallout of his election-eve "botched joke" about the
education levels of US troops. The harsh reaction to that incident -- from
many Democrats as well as Republicans -- displayed to Kerry the extreme
skepticism within his own party about whether he should mount another run.

And, with polls giving front-runner status to Senator Hillary Rodham
Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Kerry realized
that he would face formidable adversaries in the quest for the Democratic
nomination. Clinton, Obama, and a host of other candidates have been busily
hiring campaign operatives and signing up key fund-raisers in recent weeks.

On Iraq, Kerry has emerged as a fierce war critic after initially
supporting the invasion of Iraq. He has spoken of his war opposition in a
similar vein to his efforts to bring the Vietnam War to a conclusion in the
early 1970s.

Kerry's announcement freezes in place the various Democratic
aspirants to his Senate seat. Massachusetts hasn't had a vacant Senate seat
since 1984 -- when Kerry himself won his first six-year-term -- and several
members of the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation have
expressed interest in running for the Senate if Kerry retired.